Informed Citizens Help Make Springdale Better

The stated goal of this new newspaper is to help citizens learn about what’s happening in Springdale. Here are some tips to be well informed on what’s happening in Town.

1. Sign up for notifications from the Town for meetings for Town Council, Planning Commission, etc. You’ll receive agendas with packet material links. You can also sign up for Emergency Alerts at this site. https://www.springdaletown.com/list.aspx#

2. When you receive a notification about a meeting, read the packet materials first. If you have questions, contact the Staff member responsible for that packet. You can also find the agendas and packet material at https://www.springdaletown.com/AgendaCenter.

3. If you want to make comments for any item whether or not it is for a public hearing, email the Staff person along with all the Town Council, Planning Commission or other members. By including the staff, your comments will then be included under Public comments for all to read. Doing this ahead of the meeting gives everyone time to consider your input on the topic. Do this separately for each item. You can make comments at the meeting, but if it’s a public hearing, it is difficult to consider most of them fairly at that time. Staff contacts can be found here https://www.springdaletown.com/148/Departments. Town Council contacts can be found here https://www.springdaletown.com/322/Town-Council. Planning Commission contacts can be found here https://www.springdaletown.com/340/Planning-Commission.

4. Attend the meetings if possible. If you can’t, then watch them live on the YouTube link. This is posted in the meeting agenda notification. If you can’t watch during the live meeting, you can click on the link to watch later. The nice thing about this is you can then listen at a faster speed. Within 10 days of the meetings, the draft minutes should be posted for you to read.

5. For interpretations of Town ordinances, ask Staff. They are very familiar with how the laws and ordinances are to be applied. Much of the time, Council members or Planning Commissioners only have part of the story and do not have the best experience in explaining them.

6. Learn the difference between Legislative and Administrative items for both the Town Council and the Planning Commission. The Mayor wrote about this in the April 2025 Town Newsletter. https://www.springdaletown.com/401/Town-Newsletter

7. When you hear a rumor about something in reference to the Town, be it by word of mouth or on social media, don’t accept that it is accurate. Call or email Town staff and ask them directly. If you have a topic of concern, email that to staff and the TC for everyone to consider.

8. There is a lot more information about our Town and what’s happening at https://www.springdaletown.com/101/Our-Community.